Why hasn't this taken off??

MattG · 2016-07-30T13:19:45.000Z

I’ve been looking at dual extrusion options for soluble support, and I came across this project from 3 years ago.

I know the bnc3d sigma machine has recently released using a similar setup but with catch cups instead of blocking mechanisms, but this seems like an ideal solution to me for dual extruders. If this design was done well with an enclosed build volume, wouldn’t that be a great solution for printing abs with hips support structures?

MindFuLL · 2016-08-01T21:38:31.000Z

It is a great solution but the demand isn’t really there for a consumer version, if that’s what you’re asking. Getting perfect prints with a single extruder is difficult enough for 99% of users. I would say that just about anyone who is capable of operating this kind of set up effectively, can and has built one or some variation on their own or made the appropriate modifications to an existing machine.

3DMuse · 2016-08-01T21:44:06.000Z

The reason is still quality issues when dealing with dual extrusion. I am still waiting for the Zortrax’s Inventure. Which can print soluble supports but only uses one nozzle dual feed set up.

MindFuLL · 2016-08-01T23:27:16.000Z

A mixing nozzle is really only good for multi color of the same material. Because of contamination and different extrusion temperatures single nozzle solutions are almost useless for multi material, at least in my experience. Also, one of the best advantages of dual extrusion is being able to use different sized nozzles for more efficient printing of large objects with fine details.

MattG · 2016-08-02T01:59:09.000Z

I see what your saying, I’m drawing up plans to build my on using this system. It just seems like the perfect solution to me, the only doubting niggle I had was that the idea was around 3 years old but it didn’t really go mainstream, but I guess your right if there is no mass demand, there will be no mass production, at least I’ll have something a bit unique anyway, and I’m hoping to get superb quality prints from it. I hope this doesn’t turn out to be one of those projects where it would just be cheaper to fork out for an sls machine in the first place!!